Engineering bid awarded for Johnson County industrial park
The Johnson County Fiscal Court awarded a bid for engineering services for its industrial site at Hager Hill during a special meeting last Wednesday, May 26.
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
PAINTSVILLE – The Johnson County Fiscal Court awarded a bid last week for engineering services for its industrial park at Hager Hill.
The $13,500 bid awarded to Bocook Engineering of Paintsville during a special meeting last Wednesday, May 26, is contingent upon its compliance with the bid specifications, according to Johnson County Judge-Executive Mark McKenzie.
Bocook’s bid was significantly lower than an $82,000 bid submitted by Colt Engineering, doing business as Thoroughbred Engineering. The two sealed bids were the only ones received for the project and were opened during last Wednesday’s special meeting.
The court last year purchased 15.5 acres of property behind the former American Standard building at Hager Hill to use as an industrial site. McKenzie said at the time that the county was working with representatives of the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet to obtain a Build-Ready Kentucky certification for the property.
Build-Ready certification is “proof to a company that unknown obstacles have been removed, that the site due diligence has been performed and the project implementation timeline has been significantly accelerated,” according to its web site.
“With a Build-Ready site, much of the work, other than actual construction, has already been completed,” the website says. “That includes control of the land to be developed, archaeological, environmental and geotechnical studies performed, construction of a building pad, preliminary design work (complete with project cost and construction timeframes clearly defined), approved site plan permits and necessary infrastructure in place. On a Build-Ready site, construction can begin immediately.”
McKenzie said at last Wednesday’s meeting that the contract for engineering services would move the site “toward a Build-Ready designation.”
The county received a $35,275 grant from Kentucky Power Company to help pay for the project, McKenzie said.
“We also have a commitment that, as we complete this phase, then there’s additional funds available to keep moving this process forward,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said last year that the industrial site has “a lot of advantages already in place, a lot of infrastructure in place” to expedite the efforts to achieve Build-Ready status and to “ultimately be able to get placement of good-paying jobs on this property.”
The property has access to water, wastewater, three-phase power, natural gas, high-speed Internet capability and rail availability, McKenzie said.
Chuck Sexton, president and CEO of One East Kentucky, which is assisting the county with the project, said last year that direct rail access is also a big plus for the site, noting that “we don’t have direct rail access in any industrial park in Eastern Kentucky.”
“When you have a site like this one in particular,” Sexton said, “it opens us up to companies that we otherwise probably wouldn’t be able to compete for, and those are like plastic industries.”
In other business from last Wednesday’s meeting, the fiscal court held the first reading of its 2021-2022 budget.
Among the highlights of the spending plan, McKenzie noted the maintenance reimbursement from the state Administrative Office of the Courts for the Johnson County Judicial Center has been “reduced significantly” from $375,000 to $308,000.
He also said the county’s jail contribution was increased by $40,000 because there was a raise in the daily fees.
McKenzie also said there are “some significant numbers” concerning federal reimbursement in the county road department.
“That’s obviously in anticipation of costs related to the disaster repairs,” he said.
He also said there is a 2.6 increase for health insurance and a 12 percent increase in retirement benefits.
Court members also hired R.B. Robbins III as the county’s part-time animal control officer at $9.50 per hour. The new officer will not work more than 24 hours a week, or 100 hours per month, McKenzie said.
The court also opened bids for rail and cribbing. Pinkerton Drilling submitted a bid of $26 per linear foot for railing and $7 per square foot for cribbing, while Nattco, Inc., submitted a bid of $24.50 for railing and $8 for cribbing.
The bid was awarded to Nattco.